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Sugiura Yasuyuki

Senior Fellow, China Division of Regional Studies, National Institute for Defense Studies

Sugiura Yasuyuki is a senior research fellow at the Regional Studies Department of the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Ministry of Defence, Japan. He specialises in Japanese-China relations, Chinese military affairs, and Chinese Cold War history. He has published books and articles in Japanese, English and Chinese, including The Japan-US Alliance Structure in the Eyes of China: Historical developments and the current situation, and many commentaries about China military affairs in Japanese media, such as Nikkei and Kyodo News.

Articles by Sugiura Yasuyuki

Politics

Why Beijing can’t repeat America’s Maduro raid in Taiwan

America’s 2026 raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro relied on months of intelligence, air dominance and regional deployment. China’s PLA lacks the operational conditions needed to attempt a similar decapitation strike against Taiwan, says Japanese academic Sugiura Yasuyuki.

Sugiura Yasuyuki

10 Mar 2026

Politics

Three trends in the PLA's military activities around Taiwan

Japanese academic Sugiura Yasuyuki notes that Beijing has been normalising military activities around Taiwan, and these activities seem to be heading towards actual combat, while being used for propaganda. One clear example is the recent Exercise "Joint Sword" in April 2023. There are increasing concerns that such activities will cause issues between China and the US, or China and Taiwan.

Sugiura Yasuyuki

18 Sep 2023

Politics

Implications of the Russia-Ukraine war for the People's Liberation Army

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is closely watching the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with the Russian army continuing to meet stubborn resistance from the Ukrainian forces. Japanese academic Sugiura Yasuyuki examines how the PLA is learning from the crisis and reevaluating its military doctrine in the case of Taiwan, especially following the recent visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Sugiura Yasuyuki

11 Aug 2022

Politics

Japanese academic: China needs to show more self-restraint in PLA's military activities

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has ramped up its military activities in the South China Sea, East China Sea and around the island of Taiwan in the year 2020. Japanese academic Sugiura Yasuyuki believes that such actions will continue to escalate this coming year. He thinks China needs to exercise some restraint to avoid destabilising the status quo in the East Asia region.

Sugiura Yasuyuki

12 Jan 2021